HR FIRE PROOFING PLAN

“HR folks need to be less like firefighters and more like architects.”

One of the HR Leader shared this comment on my recent posts.
And I keep coming back to it.
The number of days I’ve hit the ground sprinting in HR.
Water hose blasting.
Full-on firefighter mode.
What could I have done to architect things differently?
That’s what it almost always comes down to.
It’s easy to blame things outside our control.

But.

“Why weren’t we ready for this type of situation?”
Is an appropriate question to ask ourselves.
❌ Comfortable Answer: We can’t be prepared for everything.
✅ Right Answer: We should have been more prepared.

What if we approached our roles as architects.
Architects consider codes, materials, function, safety, beauty.
They don’t react.
They anticipate.

In HR, we talk a lot about planning.
Let’s take a page from architects.
Let’s not just plan.
Let’s anticipate.